J
JonClarke
Guest
Reads like it will land near the poles but not in darkness.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-10960409
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-10960409
rfoshaug":3o6yzrgx said:This is interesting indeed! There's a space race going on in the East. I just hope they'll have live HD video feed from the landing and roving.
I don't know anything about the next human to walk on the moon, but I'm starting to think it will not be an American.
silylene":7pv0y45a said:Jon, I think it is very interesting. Such a tiny rover, however, nothing like the earlier generation Lunakhods. It's only 5kg heavier than Sojourner.
orionrider":1tpcst15 said:Maybe they are competing for the next x-prize? :lol:
It seems to me many ambitious missions are coming from the east these days. After Hayabusa, we get this new lunar race and then the Fobos-Grunt trip. Hope they can deliver.
Proposed flight plan for the Chandrayaan-2 mission. Credit: ISRO
Seven instruments will be aboard India's second unmanned mission to the Moon, Chandrayaan-2, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) announced today. The mission, which is a cooperative effort between ISRO and the Russian Federal Space Agency, will include an orbiter, a lander and a rover, which officials hope will launch in 2013. The instruments will study the Moon in a variety of wavelengths, and there will be five instruments on the orbiter and two on the rover. They include:
For the orbiter:1. Large Area Soft X-ray Spectrometer (CLASS) and Solar X-ray monitor (XSM) for mapping major elements present on the lunar surface.2. L and S band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), which will probe the first few tens of meters of the lunar surface for the presence of different constituents, including water ice. SAR is expected to provide further evidence confirming the presence of water ice below the permanently shadowed regions of the Moon.3. Imaging IR Spectrometer (IIRS) will map the lunar surface over a wide wavelength range for the study of minerals, water molecules and hydroxyl present.4. Neutral Mass Spectrometer (ChACE-2) to carry out a detailed study of the lunar exosphere.5. Terrain Mapping Camera-2 (TMC-2)to create a three-dimensional map essential for studying the lunar mineralogy and geology.For the rover:1. Laser induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS).2. Alpha Particle Induced X-ray Spectroscope (APIXS).Both those instruments are expected to carry out elemental analysis of the lunar surface near the landing site.ISRO didn’t rule out adding addition payloads later "if possible within the mission constraints,” they said in a statement.The lander is being built by Russia, while the orbiter and rover are being built by ISRO.Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft weighs about 2,650 kg at lift-off of which the orbiter's weight is about 1,400 kg and lander about 1,250 kg. It will be launched onboard a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, in India.Chandrayaan-1 was an extremely successful mission that lasted 10 –months until the orbiter experienced communications and navigation problems in August 2009, abruptly ending the mission. Data from the 11 instruments on Chandrayaan-1 are still being analyzed, but have already contributed to finding water and hydroxyl across the Moon’s surface and water ice in craters on the lunar poles.
Nov 16, 2010 18:19 Moscow Time
Russian scientists have picked moon landing sites for modules of the future Russian lunar stations - Luna-Resource and Luna-Globe, Alexander Bazilevsky, a researcher at the Vernadsky Institute said at a press conference marking the 40th anniversary of the first Soviet Lunokhod moon rover.
Luna-Globe will launch a landing platform to one of the Moon’s poles where water ice has been detected. A special drilling apparatus will collect and analyze soil samples.
Luna-Resource, a Russian-Indian project, will deliver an Indian moon rover to the Earth’s satellite.
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Above: The Chandrayaan-2/Resurs-2 lander (left) and the Luna-Glob lander as of August 2010. Credit: IKI / NPO Lavochkin
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A launch configuration of the Luna-Resurs (Chandrayaan-2) mission with a Russian-built lander and a rover and an Indian-built lunar orbiter launched by a single Indian rocket.
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A depiction of a Chandrayaan-2 orbiter as of October 2010. Credit: IKI
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Above: The architecture of the Luna-Glob lander as of August 2010. The soil-sampling robotic arm can be seen on left. An additional surface-drilling hardware could be included. Credit: IKI / NPO Lavochkin
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Above: The Lunokhod (lunar rover) vehicle (left) and the Earth return vehicle -- both shown in launch configuration -- would comprise the Luna-Grunt mission.
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Above: Key elements of the Lunny Poligon concept. Credit: NPO Lavochkin
:: 18.11.2010
Russian scientists have already selected the landing sites for Luna-Resource and Luna-Glob stations, official of Russian Geochemistry Institute told RIA Novosti.
First, the scientists picked 14 places where ice surface is expected. Eventually, only two were selected from the safety point of view.
Luna-Glob is planned to land on the polar region of the Moon and use a penetrator to study regolith. The hardware for the mission is built in Space Research Institute.
Both Luna-Glob and Luna-Resource are equipped with beacons, in order for the future lunar soil return mission to have a target for landing.
JonClarke":11ir02v8 said:So, one week and 63 views later not one person thinks the first lunar landing in nearly 40 years not worth commenting on?
40 years later and all that can be managed is a 35kg science payload and 15kg rover?
aaron38":3mxpuj3q said:JonClarke":3mxpuj3q said:So, one week and 63 views later not one person thinks the first lunar landing in nearly 40 years not worth commenting on?
No, it isn't, not really. Not given what we're capable of.
A couple weeks ago a liberal environmental blog was cheering the fact that the Illinois Gov. mansion was going to install a whopping 1kW solar panel on the roof, and they were expecting heaps of praise for that "accomplishment". But considering that a handful of us college kids built an 8kW array from scratch 15 years ago, including inventing the power electronics, that it took an army of contractors and special interest kickbacks for one lousy kW deserves scorn, not praise. We're moving backwards scientifically and industrially.
40 years later and all that can be managed is a 35kg science payload and 15kg rover? That's a joke right?
That little rover is going to look at 2 bone dry rocks before it gets stuck in the dust.
We don't need a technology demonstrator proving the concept. The concept was proven before I was born. Land a real bulldozer that can do real digging and real science, or don't bother.
EarthlingX":2kfdedts said:
Above: Key elements of the Lunny Poligon concept. Credit: NPO Lavochkin
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Above: Topography and lighting conditions at possible landing sites of the Luna-Resurs mission.
Having settled on the southern polar regions of the Moon as the primary destination of the Luna-Resurs mission, Russian scientists embarked on a difficult process of selecting its exact landing site. On Nov. 10, 2010, Laboratory for Comparative Planetology at Vernadsky geochemistry institute, GEOKhI, submitted a report to Space Research Institute, IKI, on the preliminary search for the potential landing sites for the Luna-Resurs mission. Within days, this information was also transferred to NPO Lavochkin, the prime developer of the spacecraft.
In the telephone interview with the editor of this web site, Aleksandr Basilevsky, the Head of Laboratory for Comparative Planetology at Vernadsky Geochemistry Institute, GEOKhI, said that information from American and Japanese spacecraft helped to select landing sites for Luna-Resurs.